Forbidden Friendship
by Romione4Life
Summary: Andromeda Black is asked to tutor Ted Tonks. But relationships between purebloods and Muggle-borns are never easy since one considers itself to be superior over the other. Can they make it work?


**Author's Note: This was written for round 8 of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. My task was to write about Andromeda Black. The optional prompts I chose are sentence: The clock on the wall seemed to be ticking backwards, tap on the window, and dialogue: "Your father and I disagree; you are forbidden."**

* * *

The clock on the wall seemed to be ticking backwards. Andromeda Black's stomach growled as she sat in Charms class, and she glanced up at the timepiece, silently willing it to move faster.

At last, the bell rang, signaling the end of class and the beginning of lunch. Immediately, everyone in the classroom jumped up to leave. Andromeda joined them, more than ready to eat, but she was halted by Professor Smith's voice.

"Miss Black?" the Charms professor called. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

Andromeda groaned inwardly. "Certainly, Professor," she said, wondering what she could've possibly done wrong.

"You're not in trouble," Professor Smith assured her as if he could read her mind (and in the magical world, that wasn't so farfetched). "I have a student in need of a tutor, and since you're one of the top of your class in Charms, I thought I'd ask you."

"Who is it?" Andromeda asked curiously.

"Ted Tonks. I believe he's in your year. Perhaps you know him?" Professor Smith said.

Andromeda pictured the shy Hufflepuff boy. They hadn't really spoken much, but he seemed nice from what she'd seen of him. "Yes, he's in a couple of my classes," she replied.

"Great! Then you can talk to him and set up some meeting times. You're welcome to come to this room whenever it's not in use, and I'm sure the other teachers would be happy to extend the same invitation to you. Obviously there's the library as well, though I wouldn't suggest that location if you're planning to practice spells. There's a strict no-magic policy, as I'm sure you're aware."

Andromeda nodded, starting to become impatient. Professor Smith smiled. "All right, I've kept you long enough. Thank you very much, Miss Black."

"Goodbye, Professor," Andromeda said.

* * *

Andromeda decided to talk to Ted the next day following Herbology class. Once Professor Terra had dismissed them, she hurried to catch up with him as he headed back to the castle.

"Ted!" she said. "Wait!"

Ted turned around, a look of surprise on his face. "What do you want?"

Slightly taken aback by his reaction, Andromeda hesitated. "Um… I just wanted to find out what your schedule is. Professor Smith asked me to be your Charms tutor."

"You?" Ted said in confusion.

"Yes, me," Andromeda said, equally perplexed. "Are you okay with that?"

"I guess," Ted mumbled.

"Well, I'm usually available weekends and evenings, unless I have a lot of homework, and I also have a free period every Monday and Thursday afternoon, so…" Andromeda trailed off. She wasn't expecting their conversation to be this uncomfortable.

After a short silence, Ted finally said, "Thursdays and weekends work for me."

"Then let's plan to meet in the library on Saturday at 2 o'clock," Andromeda suggested.

"All right," Ted said. "See you then."

He quickened his pace as they neared the castle, leaving Andromeda baffled at his behavior. He'd been unwelcoming, bordering on cold, while he talked to her. What had she done to deserve it when they'd barely talked to each other before?

* * *

With the way things had gone, Andromeda was half expecting Ted not to show up to his first tutoring session. To her relief, he walked into the library just a few minutes after she did.

"Hello," she greeted him cheerfully, hoping to start things off on a better foot. "Let's get started, shall we?"

Ted nodded, wordlessly pulling out some parchment and a scroll. Andromeda cleared her throat uncomfortably.

"Now, our homework for Charms is to write eight inches about the origins and the uses of the Fidelius Charm. It might seem like a lot, but it's less than the length of a standard sheet of Muggle paper –"

"You know about Muggles?" Ted interrupted.

"Well, sure," Andromeda said. "I take Muggle Studies, after all, so I would hope I know a thing or two about them."

"Oh," Ted said.

"Now, before we dive deeper into the details of the Fidelius Charm, it's important to understand what it is," Andromeda said. "The Fidelius Charm is used to hide a secret. The only person who knows the secret is the Secret-Keeper, and it will remain a secret forever – unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper divulges it…"

Andromeda finished explaining the Fidelius Charm to Ted and then helped him research it using some books she'd found the previous day. Before she knew it, an hour and a half had passed and they'd completed the assignment.

"There, see, that wasn't so bad!" Andromeda said, pleased with the progress they'd made. "Let's do this again next week, shall we?"

She began to pack up her belongings to leave, but Ted stopped her.

"Wait a second, Andromeda," he said. Andromeda looked at him expectantly. "I think I owe you an explanation for the way I acted the other day. I know that a lot of pureblood witches and wizards look down on Muggle-borns like me. And I know that your family is like that; your sister Bellatrix once called me a Mudblood…"

"She didn't!" Andromeda cried, her eyes wide.

"She did, but that's not my point. My point is that I assumed you'd be the same way, so I didn't understand why you were tutoring me, let alone talking to me. But now I see that I was very wrong. I'm sorry for what I said to you, and what I thought."

"It's fine," Andromeda said. "If I were you, I would've thought I was one of those snobby purebloods, too. I'm glad I know why you were being so short with me. I probably should've figured it out on my own."

"Well, now that we have that cleared up, I was wondering…" Ted said hesitantly. "Would you like to get together sometime? Not for a tutoring session, just… for fun."

Andromeda smiled. "I'd like that."

* * *

Saying those three words turned out to be one of the best decisions of Andromeda's life. She and Ted started spending a lot of time together, both in and out of the classroom. Ted's grades in Charms class improved drastically, as did the relationship between the two of them. They spent time together during their free periods, on trips to Hogsmeade, and whenever else they could.

Unfortunately, all good things had to come to an end, and the last day of the school year came much too quickly. Right before they pulled into King's Cross Station on the Hogwarts Express, however, Ted held out a scrap of paper for Andromeda.

"This is my address," he said, placing the parchment in her hand. "Send me lots of owls over the summer, okay?"

"Of course!" Andromeda exclaimed. "I'm going to miss you, Teddy. We should try to see each other sometime."

Ted grinned and blushed in embarrassment at the nickname. Then, he leaned over and kissed Andromeda on the cheek. With her initial shock, he was able to leap out of his seat and dash out of the compartment before she could say anything.

* * *

Andromeda walked around the rest of the day beaming. Ted had _kissed_ her – sure, it was only on her cheek, but it was a kiss nonetheless. She didn't think anything could ruin her good mood.

How wrong she was.

Later that evening, her parents asked to speak with her privately. Instantly the grin vanished from her face as they seated themselves in her room.

"Andromeda," her mother began seriously. "Who is Ted Tonks?"

"He – he's a friend of mine," Andromeda said. She already didn't like where this conversation was going.

"He is a Muggle-born, is he not?" her father questioned.

"Who told you?" Andromeda demanded.

"It doesn't matter!" her father said harshly. "What matters is why you are associating with such _filth_!"

"He is not filth!" Andromeda said. "He's a wonderful person regardless of his blood status. And I should be allowed to see him if I want."

"Your father and I disagree; you are forbidden," her mother said.

"Forbidden?" Andromeda echoed with a gasp. "But that's – you can't do that!"

"We will not have our daughter fraternizing with Mudbloods!" her father said. "We raised you better than this!"

"You can't stop me!" Andromeda shouted, hot tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. "And don't call him a Mudblood! His name is Ted!"

"We will do whatever we wish," her mother said. "So until you can show us more respect, you are not permitted to leave the house."

"But –" Andromeda began.

Her father held up his hand. "There will be no more discussion on the matter. Now go to bed."

He rose to leave the room, his wife close behind him. Andromeda buried her face in her hands and cried for several minutes. When at last she raised her head, she saw Bellatrix standing in her doorway, smirking.

"You!" she said accusingly. "You told Mum and Dad about me and Ted, didn't you?"

"It's for your own good," Bellatrix said loftily. "We can't have you putting a stigma upon the Black family name."

Andromeda marched over to the doorway, staring directly at her older sister. "If you ask me, _I'm _not the one disgracing the family," she hissed. With that, she slammed the door in Bellatrix's face.

As good as it felt to have the last word with Bellatrix, the tears were beginning to fall again. There was no other option. She had to write to Ted and tell him they couldn't contact each other anymore.

Sniffling, Andromeda pulled out a piece of parchment, a quill, and some ink.

_Dear Teddy,_

_This will be the first and last letter you get from me this summer. My parents found out about us being friends, and needless to say they weren't very happy about it. I still want to see you, but I think maybe you should keep away from me. I'm not allowed to leave the house, and it would only make things worse if you came here. I don't want you to get hurt. I'm really sorry. I hope you understand._

_I'll see you in September. _

_ Andromeda_

* * *

Andromeda couldn't sleep for the next week. She'd sent her letter with her owl, but instead of making her feel better that Ted would be safe, she only felt worse. Perhaps she had been too rash in her decision; perhaps she could've found a way around her parents' orders.

So deep in thought was she one night that she almost didn't hear the soft tap on the window. Startled, she got out of bed to see what was there. What she found – or rather, who she found – caused her to give a low squeal and throw open the window.

"You shouldn't have come!" she whispered fiercely, helping Ted to scramble through the window. He got inside and brushed himself off before Andromeda hugged him tightly.

"Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble if we're caught!" she said.

"I had to see you," Ted said, hugging her back.

"I know," Andromeda said. "I'm glad that you're here. I really am."

* * *

The two friends spent the rest of the night talking and laughing quietly. At one point, they noticed that their hands had become entwined, but neither of them pulled away. Instead, they smiled and tightened their grasp.

Ted stayed until the sun started to peek over the horizon. Wanting to minimize their risk of being found as much as possible, he decided to leave in case someone woke up early.

"I'm sorry to keep you up all night," he apologized, preparing to climb back out of the window.

"Don't be sorry!" Andromeda said. "Getting to see you was worth the sleep deprivation. We have to do this again sometime."

"We will," Ted promised. He went to kiss her on the cheek again, but this time she stopped him.

"I want to do something different," she said. Timidly, she reached up and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Was that all right?" she asked when they separated.

"Yeah," Ted said breathlessly. He took Andromeda's hand once more and squeezed it. "Good night, Andromeda – or should I say, good morning."

Andromeda giggled. "Good morning, Teddy."

In that moment, she probably wouldn't have cared even if her parents had walked into the room. She had a best friend who was maybe something more now, and he was willing to do what he felt was right just as much as she was. And she couldn't have asked for anything more.


End file.
